“All the Elves who fell into the hands of Melkor were imprisoned in Utumno before it was destroyed, and through slow and cruel arts, they were corrupted and made slaves; and thus Melkor generated the dreadful race of Orcs, which are an act of envy and mockery towards the Elves, of whom they later became the most relentless enemies.”
(J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion)
The Orcs are a race of Arda, the fantasy imaginary universe created by the writer J. R. R. Tolkien.
Origin
They are humanoid creatures, a corrupted Elvish progeny in mind and body by Melkor, deforming and torturing the Elves he imprisoned in Utumno during the First Age, as explained in The Silmarillion: the fallen Ainu did not create them, as he is unable to create any living being “because of his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning,” but the progeny of Orcs perpetuates the original corruption and Melkor made them his slaves even though these creatures deep down detest him.
Physiognomy and behavior
Orcs are grotesque and deformed creatures, with dark green to light pink skin and particularly long arms. Their face is flattened, with a wide mouth equipped with fangs, and red eyes particularly suited for seeing in the dark since they spend much of their lives in caves and tunnels: they indeed hate and can’t stand, except for Saruman’s Uruk-hai, the sunlight, which “softens their legs and makes their heads spin.” For this reason, during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Sauron darkens the sky with the fumes of Mount Doom favoring the advance of his army. Their height varies, from comparable to that of a man (albeit very short) to that of a Hobbit.
Deeply cruel, anthropophagic, and occasionally cannibalistic, they are, however, very ingenious and skilled both in mining works and in metalworking, especially when it comes to producing weapons and torture instruments.
Both Melkor and, after him, Sauron do not care about their well-being either out of wickedness or simply because Orcs reproduce rapidly, replacing losses. For this reason, for example, Sauron does not care that the Orcs stationed at the pass of Cirith Ungol are the only source of food for Shelob:
“[The Orcs] were certainly useful slaves, but he had plenty of them. If Shelob occasionally used them to satisfy her hunger, so much the better: Sauron could do without them.”
(The Lord of the Rings, p. 873.)
Types of Orcs
Orcs were “spawned” by Melkor in the First Age; since then, they diversified into a great number of races, scattered throughout the Great Lands; the oldest race is that of the Northern Orcs, Morgoth’s servants; they lived in Angband or scattered throughout Beleriand, yet they were not a uniform race, as they too were rather diversified, in fact, there exist:
- The Goblins, the most common and low-statured orcs, compared to men and elves;
- the Orcs “of a fierce, cruel, and cunning race,” who in the Unfinished Tales assault Brethil, then being routed by the Woodmen led by Túrin;
- The Gong, present in the Lost Tales and defined as “evil beings obscurely akin to the Orcs,” but listed alongside the Orcs as a separate race. They plundered Nargothrond after its fall by Glaurung; however, it is uncertain if Tolkien later deleted them from the legends or if they are part of the Orcs in general serving Morgoth;
- The Goblin, Orcs slightly shorter than goblins, indeed as tall as dwarves. They live underground and are encountered by Thorin Oakenshield in the Misty Mountains. This distinction is only present in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation, where in the first trilogy they are green-skinned orcs equipped with rudimentary iron gear, while in the second trilogy, they are deformed due to diseases. In Tolkien’s original work, “Goblin” is simply a synonym for Orc, used almost exclusively in The Hobbit. “Orc” is not an English word, and Goblin would, therefore, be only its translation: in The Two Towers, the term Goblin is used to refer to Saruman’s Uruk-hai, unmistakably showing its synonym nature.
- Finally, there are the Sarqindi, cannibal orcs always mentioned in the Lost Tales and encountered by Eärendil in his travels.
Following the collapse of Thangorodrim and Morgoth’s defeat, the Orcs fled from the north and took refuge in eastern Middle-earth; here they probably began to cause trouble for Dwarves and Men. Many of them poured into the Misty Mountains, where they further diversified into a large number of tribes with different dialects and customs.
In Sauron’s war against Eriador, Orcs were part of his army; later, when he was defeated, they took refuge in Mordor with him, but only a small percentage, which Sauron nourished, increasing their numbers. From them, he obtained the so-called Red Eyes, the orc soldiers who until the end of the Third Age were the main component of his legions.
In the last two centuries of the Third Age, due to the evil Maiar dwelling in Middle-earth, there was a further, terrible modification of the Orcs. Sauron, in fact, tried to make these infamous creatures stronger, succeeding and obtaining the Uruks, very large and muscular black orcs, who caused serious damage to Gondor. In addition to serving as a powerful legion in Mordor, some Uruks were sent to the mines of the Misty Mountains, where they became true lords, providing Sauron with useful servants in such a distant place.
Finally, in the last half-century of the Third Age, the treacherous wizard Saruman modified these Uruks, making them even stronger, capable of covering long distances in travel and enduring sunlight. Usually, these Orcs called themselves Uruk-hai, while the other races were contemptuously called snaga, slaves. As if that were not enough, the wicked Saruman infused some men with Orc blood, obtaining the horrible generation of half-orcs, as tall as men but with a face cruelly similar to that of orcs. While it is likely that at least Saruman’s Uruk-hai became extinct following the defeat of the Battle of the Hornburg, the half-orcs were instead released by the Hobbits after the Battle of the Shire, and therefore mingled with the people of Eriador.
At the beginning of the Fourth Age, with Sauron’s defeat, the orcs fled and now in disarray, without a guide, most likely they were all exterminated by the men of the United Kingdoms while the goblins that inhabited the Misty Mountains were killed by the dwarves of Durin’s line. During this era, the only place in all of Middle-earth where Orcs could be encountered was only the Grey Mountains to the north, which during the Third Age were still infested by some dragons.
Etymology, English Edition, and Italian Translation
Tolkien takes the names orc and ork directly from the Old English word that appears in the medieval epic poem Beowulf and refers to some monstrous creatures of Grendel’s lineage.
From the Old English term, the writer coins the Sindarin words “orch” (with the plural “yrch”) and “uruk” in the Black Speech, along with “orc,” in much of his work, although in The Hobbit he almost exclusively uses the term “goblin.”
This discrepancy stems from the fact that The Hobbit’s setting, while drawing on many aspects (names, characters, creatures, and places) from that body of writings about Middle-earth that will constitute The Silmarillion, was not initially conceived by Tolkien as coinciding with Middle-earth, and the novel maintained a fable-like structure of various inspirations.
Specifically, an important source for the conception of Orcs, besides Beowulf, was the fairy tale The Princess and the Goblin (1872) by the Scottish writer George MacDonald. Tolkien’s Orcs, however, show some differences from the originals: they love to sing rhythmic and fierce lyrics and have robust and resistant feet whereas MacDonald’s Orcs have delicate ones.
In the original English version of The Hobbit (published in 1937), the term “orc” is not used except in two cases: when Gandalf tries to scare Bilbo by mentioning creatures from the Wilds and in the name of the Elvish sword Orcrist found among the treasures of the trolls Bert, Tom, and William. All other occurrences in the novel use, in harmony with MacDonald’s work, the term “goblin,” although they are nonetheless creatures similar to those in Tolkien’s subsequent works.
An early version of the Orcs, very different in appearance from the later ones, appears in Tolkien’s poem Goblin Feet, which was published in the Oxford Poetry annual of 1915 and later in Dora Owen’s Book of Fairy Poetry (1920). In Goblin Feet, Orcs are described as “tiny elf-like creatures and the sounds of their singing and dancing [are] magical.”
In the Italian editions of The Lord of the Rings for the Rusconi publisher, from 1970 until the acquisition by Bompiani and the revision by the Italian Tolkien Society in 2003, the English word “orc” was translated as “orchetto” (goblin).
This stylistic choice, which distinguished it for a long time from the Adelphi Italian edition of The Hobbit, where the term “orco” (orc) was used (even though, as already mentioned, “goblin” was used in the original English of this work), is part of a wider and more complex editorial saga related to the Italian publication of the novel.
It can be said that goblin is an archaic term.
Famous Orcs
Azog
He is an albino orc mentioned in The Hobbit and in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings. His appearance is described solely as: “a great Orc with a huge head covered by a helmet, yet agile and fast.” Tolkien describes Azog as a warrior “cruel and cunning,” endowed with superhuman strength enough to break Náin’s neck despite the dwarf wearing an iron collar to protect himself.
Azog is referred to as an “orc” in The Lord of the Rings and as a “goblin” in The Hobbit. In The Hobbit, Gandalf, in a discussion with Thorin, specifically states that Azog belongs to the Goblin race: “Your grandfather Thrór was killed, as you well remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin.” This apparent discrepancy arises because The Hobbit, while maintaining a fable-like structure, has a narrative focused more on the hobbits’ point of view, and “goblin” is precisely the term by which hobbits, in particular, call orcs. In Peter Jackson’s films, however, the two terms denote two distinct races, and Azog “The Defiler” is only referred to as an orc.
In the first two editions of The Hobbit, the name of the orc that killed Thrór was not specified. The name Azog was inserted in the third edition of The Hobbit published in 1966, following the release of the second edition in 1965 of The Lord of the Rings. The name Azog has an unknown origin and, according to John D. Rateliff, may derive from the Black Speech of Mordor.
Azog is the leader of the Orcs who, during the Third Age, took possession of the Mines of Moria, the ancient fortress of Durin’s people. When Thrór (grandfather of Thorin Oakenshield), along with his friend Nár, returns to Moria to visit its ancient dwellings, he is captured after passing through the mines’ gate and slaughtered by Azog and his subordinates. After beheading Thrór and carving his name on the dwarf’s face with fire in dwarvish runes, Azog returns the dwarf’s head to Nár, along with a bag of coins, and bitterly insults Durin’s folk, calling them “beggarly dwarves,” before proclaiming himself the new lord of Moria.
This event sparks the war between Orcs and Dwarves. During the Battle of Nanduhirion or Azanulbizar, where the Orcs attack the Dwarves, Azog emerges from his dwellings to face the enemies and breaks Náin’s neck, Thrór’s grandson, who had challenged him. In the battle’s epilogue, however, he is killed by the young Dáin II Ironfoot, who beheads him in front of the gates of Moria. At the end of the battle, the Dwarves take Azog’s severed head and, before impaling it on a pole, insert the bag of coins that the Orc had given to Nár into his mouth.
In Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, the role of Azog is portrayed by Manu Bennett using motion capture technology. Originally, the character was not supposed to have the appearance he has in the film. However, when Peter Jackson decided to give the character more prominence, he modified his appearance to make him more menacing and distinctive. For this reason, for the role of Azog, Jackson decided not to use a stuntman but to choose a physically imposing actor like Bennett. In the film, he is depicted as a large albino orc riding a white female warg. The orc is still alive during the period covered by the films because, unlike what is written in the novel, he is not killed by Dáin but only wounded by Thorin Oakenshield (who amputates his hand and part of his left forearm).
In the second film, he becomes the commander of Sauron’s legions. In the extended version, there is a flashback of the Battle of Azanulbizar: after killing Thrór, he duels and defeats his son Thráin and takes the Ring from him. In the third and final film, Azog is the commander of legions of orcs and leads his troops towards the Lonely Mountain for the Battle of the Five Armies, with the help of his son Bolg who commands a second army of orcs from Mount Gundabad. During the battle, he commands the legions from Ravenhill and, knowing of the arrival of Thorin, Fíli, Kíli, and Dwalin, cunningly manages to separate the four and kill Fíli. He later clashes with Thorin on the frozen river of Ravenhill and manages to mortally wound him, but Thorin quickly turns the tables and kills the defiler by piercing him in the chest with the Elvish sword Orcrist.
Balcmeg
A great captain of the Orcs who led his people in the siege of Gondolin; “hacked to pieces” by Tuor.
Bolg
Appears with a secondary role and as an antagonist in the novel The Hobbit, while mentioned in the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings. Within the writer’s corpus, Bolg is a gigantic orc leading a vast army of his kin and wargs who in The Hobbit participates in the Battle of the Five Armies against elves, dwarves, and men.
Nothing is known about his appearance, and it is solely learned from his personality that he intended to destroy Durin’s lineage. The name “Bolg” is of unknown origin; it could derive from the word “bolg,” from the goblin language, meaning literally “strong,” or it may derive from “bolg,” a word of unknown meaning belonging to the ancient Irish language.
Bolg is the son of Azog. After his father’s death caused by Dáin II Ironfoot in the Battle of Nanduhirion or Azanulbizar, Bolg swears to avenge his father and destroy the Durin’s lineage.
Leading a large army composed of orcs and wargs, Bolg heads to the foot of the Lonely Mountain where he faces the army composed of men from the Lake-town, the Wood-elves, and the Dwarves from the Iron Hills in the battle of the five armies. During the clash, Bolg, flanked by his bodyguards, confronts many enemies and comes close to victory, but is hindered by the intervention of the skin-changer Beorn, who suddenly arrives on the battlefield. Beorn, after scattering Bolg’s bodyguards, attacks the orc and hacks him to pieces. With the death of their leader, the army of orcs and wargs disperses in panic and is definitively defeated.
Bolg appears in a somewhat prominent role in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit film trilogy. In this trilogy, he is depicted as a huge albino orc just like Azog. In the second film, he takes over his father’s role (busy leading the Necromancer’s legions) as the hunter of Thorin Oakenshield’s company, pursuing it to Mirkwood and the Lake-town, where he clashes with Legolas; in the third film, he commands another legion of the Necromancer coming from Mount Gundabad and, during the Battle of the Five Armies, kills Kíli and comes close to killing Tauriel as well, but is stopped and killed by Legolas.
Bolg is portrayed in the second film by Lawrence Makoare (who previously portrayed the Witch-king of Angmar, the Uruk-hai Lurtz, and the orc Gothmog in the original trilogy) and in the third by John Tui using motion capture technology, appearing as a giant albino orc just like Azog. In the first film, the character briefly appeared in a flashback during the Battle of Azanulbizar, played by Conan Stevens using traditional prosthetic makeup: however, since according to Jackson it would have been visually odd to see Azog realized in CGI and Bolg in prosthetics, this earlier version was reaccredited as the “Jailer of the Dungeons of Dol Guldur,” reappearing in the third film as the orc who tries to kill the imprisoned Gandalf but is swept away by the light emitted by Galadriel’s Ring Nenya.
Golfimpal
King of the Orcs from Mount Gram, Golfimpal was killed by Ruggitoro (or Roaringroar, depending on the translation) during the Battle of Greenfields, in the Shire. Ruggitoro decapitated him with an axe, and his head ended up in a rabbit hole; hence, the name of the game of golf derives from his name (in the universe of Arda).
Gorbag
Gorbag serves as a captain in the city of Minas Morgul; however, during Shelob’s hunt for Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, Gorbag goes to the pass to check the situation, and there he meets Shagrat, captain of Cirith Ungol, who also came to see what happened. Together the two orcs decide to transport Frodo to the tower to search for and torture him; but Gorbag, seeing Frodo’s mithril coat, decides to defy his masters’ orders and keeps it for himself. Shagrat, in disagreement, kills him and then flees, taking the precious object with him.
In the film The Return of the King of the cinematic trilogy, Gorbag is portrayed by Stephen Ure.
Gothmog
In the book, Gothmog is the lieutenant of Minas Morgul, but his nature is not specified: he could indeed be an orc, a Black Númenorean, or even one of the Nazgûl. All we know about him is that he invigorates the siege of Minas Tirith immediately after Théoden’s death and shortly before Aragorn’s arrival. In the novel, it is not specified what happens to him, but he likely dies in battle.
In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King film, Gothmog is portrayed by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare, who also plays the Witch-king of Angmar. In this film, he is depicted as a large orc with hideous features who appears to suffer from elephantiasis. He is the commander of the orcs besieging Minas Tirith. His death is only shown in the extended version: he is about to kill Éowyn, who has just slain the Witch-king of Angmar, but is in turn slaughtered by Aragorn and Gimli.
Great Goblin
He is the king of the Goblins who, in The Hobbit, capture Thorin Oakenshield’s company heading towards Erebor. The Great Goblin is a minor character in Tolkien’s novels. In the book, his appearance is solely learned to be “a horrid Goblin with a huge head” and that he sat on a throne, a wide flat stone. Evil and cruel, but also intelligent and cunning, the Great Goblin first appears when he captures Thorin Oakenshield’s company on the Misty Mountains, heading towards Erebor. He personally interrogates the group. When he discovers some of the swords possessed by the Dwarves that in past ages had slain many of his kind, the Great Goblin decides to punish the group. However, at that moment, Gandalf intervenes, killing the king with the sword Glamdring and freeing his companions. He is also called the Goblin King or Malice by one of his own goblin soldiers.
The character appears in the 1977 film The Hobbit, directed and produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr., where he is voiced by John Stephenson.
He also appears in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Hobbit, where he is portrayed by Barry Humphries, through motion capture with the Italian voice of Massimiliano Plinio. For the role of the Goblin King, Jackson was looking for a figure that showed delicate sensitivity and emotional depth. The director became interested in Humphries after seeing some of his Dame Edna theatrical performances and deemed him perfect for the role.
Grishnákh
During the journey of the orcs who have kidnapped Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, Grishnakh opposes the will of Uglúk, leader of the Uruk-hai, who leads the band. Grishnakh is a soldier of Mordor, and he would prefer to take the two prisoners to his master Sauron rather than crossing Rohan, but he is afraid to challenge Uglúk, and he also knows the secret that neither Sauron nor Saruman can hide: a halfling possesses the One Ring. So Grishnakh, while the orc band is attacked by the valiant knights of Rohan, separates himself from Merry and Pippin to search for them and seize the precious jewel, unaware that his two prisoners do not have it. Fortunately for the two Hobbits, however, Grishnakh is killed by a rider, so they can escape the massacre and take refuge in the great Fangorn Forest. In another version, Grishnakh is killed by Treebeard while chasing Merry and Pippin.
In the film The Two Towers of the cinematic trilogy, Grishnakh is portrayed by Stephen Ure.
Lagduf
Lagduf is an orc in the service of Shagrat, killed by Gorbag’s archers while fleeing the Tower with Muzgash.
Lug
Lug is an orc who participated in the siege of Gondolin, killed by Tuor with the axe Dramborleg, which severed his legs.
Lugdush
Lugdush is an Uruk-hai in the service of Saruman, a member of Uglúk’s squad. He is mentioned only in a few points, such as when his captain orders him to watch over the Hobbit prisoners, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took.
Mauhúr
Mauhúr is an Uruk-hai in the service of Isengard. He, during the passage where Merry and Pippin are prisoners of the Orcs, waits for Uglúk’s squad near Fangorn Forest; he is probably killed by Éomer’s Riders or by the inhabitants of Fangorn. In the film, he is portrayed by Robbie Magasiva.
Muzgash
Muzgash is an orc of Cirith Ungol, killed by Gorbag’s followers while leaving the Tower with Lagduf.
Orcobal
The “foremost defender” of the hosts of Orcs who assailed Gondolin was beheaded by Ecthelion. Tolkien wrote the first version (never completed) of the fall of Gondolin in 1917, however, the character does not appear in the version published in The Silmarillion.
Othrod
A lord of the Orcs in the First Age, killed by Tuor with a blow to the head in the siege of Gondolin.
Radbug
Radbug is one of the Orcs, likely a follower of Gorbag, killed by Shagrat during the struggle for possession of Frodo and his belongings.
Shagrat
Shagrat is a figure of some significance in Tolkien’s work. After being wounded by the vile Shelob, Frodo is taken, unconscious, by the orcs to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Here (to his and faithful Sam’s fortune), the tower’s captain, Shagrat, argues with Gorbag, the captain of the orcs from Minas Morgul. Their respective factions fight together; in the end, only Shagrat, an orc named Snaga, Frodo, and Sam, who arrives later, remain in the tower. Sam confronts Shagrat, but the orc manages to escape. When his superiors arrive, Shagrat hands over to them the mithril mail shirt belonging to Frodo, which he has taken possession of. It is not known what becomes of Shagrat, but an orc that the hobbits overhear along the way tells a comrade that Shagrat will no longer be a captain. However, the mail shirt reaches the Mouth of Sauron, who shows it to Gandalf during the meeting with the Captains of the West before the Morannon.
In the film The Return of the King, Shagrat is portrayed by Peter Tait.
The singer of Dimmu Borgir, Shagrath, stated in an interview that his stage name is inspired by the black Uruk.
Snaga
Snaga is an orc tracker in the ranks of Cirith Ungol. He is under Shagrat’s command, but following the quarrel between Shagrat and Gorbag and the deaths of all the other orcs, he refuses to obey Shagrat’s command to leave the Tower to warn the Nazgûl because he fears the ‘great Elvish warrior.’ After his captain’s escape, Snaga goes to Frodo, his prisoner, to whip him, but Samwise Gamgee intervenes, frightening the orc, who tumbles down the stairs, breaking his neck.
Another orc also bears the name Snaga, but he appears in The Two Towers: he is one of the orc scouts that Uglúk sends ahead.
In the appendix on languages at the end of The Lord of the Rings, particularly in the section “Concerning the Orcs and the Black Speech,” the term Snaga is translated as “slave” and is the appellation that the Uruk-hai gave to all orcs of other breeds.
Ufthak
Ufthak is an orc belonging to the ranks of Cirith Ungol. In the book The Return of the King, he is mentioned by his captain, Shagrat, who found him tied up in Shelob’s lair but did not free him for fear of arousing the spider’s wrath.
Uglúk
In The Two Towers, Uglúk is an Uruk-hai charged by Saruman with leading his troop through the plains of Rohan. Uglúk is stronger than his kin and all the other orcs in the band, so he imposes his will by killing those who oppose him. Uglúk wants to deliver the Hobbits in his possession to Saruman, disregarding the orders from Mordor brought by Grishnakh. But he fails to complete his mission because he is killed by the nephew of the King of Rohan, Éomer, who dismounts from his horse and then decapitates him near Fangorn Forest.
In the film The Two Towers, Uglúk is portrayed by Nathaniel Lees. After the death of Lurtz at the hands of Aragorn, Uglúk takes over as squad leader of the Uruk-hai sent by Saruman to retrieve the Hobbit Ring-bearers.
Ulbandi
Ulbandi, also called Fluithuin, is a female orc and appears in The Lost Tales; she is perhaps the only female orc present in Tolkien’s works. She is mentioned as the mother of Gothmog, along with Melkor.
Unnamed orcs from the book
There are many characters belonging to the orc race in Tolkien’s books, but not all of them have a name; here is a small list.
- In The Silmarillion, there is a captain of Morgoth in the west who leads a diversionary action to distract Fingon’s Elves, hidden among the mountains waiting to assault Angband. This captain cruelly executes the elven prisoner Gelmir who will be killed in turn by Gelmir’s brother, Gwindor.
- Also in The Silmarillion, there is an orc captain who kills Barahir and exhibits his hand.
- Of the many unnamed orcs in The Lord of the Rings, the first is the chief orc of Moria, “almost human-sized” (likely an Uruk), who would have killed Frodo if he had not worn the mithril mail shirt.
- There is also the captain killed at the exit of Moria.
- In the chapter “The Uruk-hai,” there is a guard with yellow fangs who threatens Pippin, being killed by Uglúk.
- In The Return of the King, in the chapter “The Land of Shadow,” there are two orcs, a soldier armed with a spear and a tracker who shoots Gollum with an arrow but misses, almost tracking down Frodo and Sam on the way to Durthang.
Orcs from the Film Trilogy
These are the orcs not included in the books but specifically created for Peter Jackson’s trilogy.
Lurtz
| Lurtz | |
|---|---|
| Universe | Arda |
| Author | Peter Jackson |
| Portrayed by | Lawrence Makoare |
| Imaginary Features | |
| Species | Uruk-hai |
| Sex | Male |
Lurtz is the captain of the Uruk-hai who leads his kin in the search for the Fellowship of the Ring, aiming to capture the Hobbits. His character is portrayed by actor Lawrence Makoare.
Lurtz was the first of Saruman’s Uruk-hai to be created, and he was their commander in the battle against the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen. Here, he kills Boromir, who was defending the Hobbits Merry and Pippin, by shooting three arrows at the man. While his companions capture the Hobbits, Lurtz stays behind to finish off Boromir but is thwarted by Aragorn, who prevents his friend from being further harmed and ultimately kills Lurtz after a struggle, first by severing his right arm, then striking him in the stomach, and finally beheading him with a sword.
Lurtz was the largest and strongest Uruk-hai of his group. He also had extraordinary physical resilience. In fact, despite Aragorn stabbing his leg with a dagger, cutting off an arm, and stabbing him in the stomach with his sword, Lurtz continued to fight against the ranger.
In Tolkien’s account, Boromir is killed by an orc or multiple unknown orcs, having been “shot by many arrows.”
The character of Lurtz is one of the playable characters for the Isengard faction in the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth and its sequels.
Snaga
In the book, Snaga is an orc in the service of Shagrat, but in the film, he is an orc from Grishnakh’s band who bears the name. He is determined to devour Merry and Pippin at all costs, despite the orders from Mordor and Isengard, but he is killed by Uglúk and devoured by the rest of the band. Snaga is portrayed by Jed Brophy. The name Snaga is also used by the Uruk-hai to refer to common orcs. The orc Snaga is also present in the video game Guardians of Middle-earth, and his weapon is a type of scimitar.
Sharkû
Sharkû is the name of the captain of the Warg-riders in the film The Two Towers. He is portrayed by Jed Brophy.
He is first seen in the depths of Isengard, where Saruman orders him to attack Rohan with his Wargs; he then appears in the battle (only in the film) at the Battle of Helm’s Deep between the Riders of Rohan and the Warg-riders, where he manages to make Aragorn fall off a cliff but dies moments later from the wounds sustained in the battle.
In the book, Sharkû is the nickname by which Saruman was called by his servants, meaning “old man.”
Guritz
Guritz appears in the film The Return of the King, portrayed by Joel Tobeck. In the final credits, he is simply referred to as the Orc Lieutenant.
Easily recognizable by the long scar disfiguring his face and the skull impaled on his helmet, Guritz is the chief lieutenant of Gothmog and takes part in the siege of Minas Tirith and the ensuing battle. He is killed by Aragorn on the Harlond while awaiting the Corsairs of Umbar.
Video Game Orcs
These are some of the orcs created for the 2012 video game Guardians of Middle-earth.
Felgrom
This Goblin is not only evil but also insane: he is a ticking time bomb, always on the move, always running. Felgrom carries an enormous explosive bomb on his back but can also throw smaller bombs; he wears an iron mask with a long beak-like nose. Felgrom and his companions are the vanguard of a company of Mordor soldiers accustomed to instilling fear in their enemies. When he feels threatened or trapped, Felgrom commits suicide by detonating the enormous bomb he carries, but he doesn’t care: he does it knowingly, knowing that harming Sauron’s enemies is worth much of his insignificant life; Felgrom, in particular, strongly desires to jump on a handful of soldiers and, by blowing himself up, burn them in flames.
Lugbol
Once dead, this Goblin was possessed by a dark entity. He is covered in crimson clothes and armor, the right arm bracelet and helmet of which are covered in sharp spikes, and he floats in the air; inside his body is a negative energy, similar to the force that animates the Balrogs (it is very likely that the entity that possessed him is the spirit of one of these terrible beings), which gives him the power to control flames and shadows. Being evil, Lugbol laughs at the suffering of his enemies when they are engulfed in his flames. Furthermore, when he feels too vulnerable, he can summon a fire Warg that assists him in his battles.
Mozgog
Mozgog is a terrible orc, relentless, and gives no quarter. His armor consists of: a helmet with four triangular spikes; a bracelet connected to one of the vambraces, tied to the body with a belt; the one on the waist has an animal skull as a buckle; from the left breastplate to the left arm, there is a dark green tribal tattoo; and as a weapon, he uses a huge sword. After killing many orcs for his position of power, Mozgog has no friends but many enemies, both among men and his own comrades, making him as dangerous as a cornered animal. Moreover, the long years spent earning his place as commander of the orcs have made him almost unbeatable: he can be struck many times but never gives in, and his strength is such that with a sword blow, he can immediately kill an enemy.
